AICC in massive project dwarfing current facilities

The Arusha International Conference Center (AICC) is set to come up with a 7500-sitting capacity convention-cum-exhibition center, which will be built at a cost of about $248million.

The new conference outfit, dubbed Mount Kilimanjaro Convention Center (MKCC) will be built in the Njiro suburb on the outskirts of the emerging city.

Addressing a press conference here early this week, AICC managiong director Elishilia Kaaya said that Mount Kilimanjaro Convention Center will be furnished will all relevant, world class conference facilities.

“We have started signing some of the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on this new and big project,” he said, noting that the government and other partners have already shown interest to finance the project.

“As you are all aware that the current AICC structure wasn’t meant for major conferences, as it was designed to host the defunct East African Community (EAC).

That’s why we came up with this new ideal structure to cater for major conference requirements, and this structure will remain to offer minor conferences and offices services,” he said.

The proposed structure will provide an opportunity for the private sector to build world-class hotels near the convention hub, offering hospitality services to delegates in different conference activities at the convention.

“Our idea is not to compete with the private sector but to create room for them to smoothly operate in the hospitality industry,” Kaaya affirmed.

MKCC is one of three projects AICC is planning to undertake in the near future, one being Kaloleni state-of-the-art shopping malls, whose costing is set at $12million and residential flats, costing 6bn/-.

The three AICC commercial outfits are likely add a new dimension to the emerging city, completely transforming Arusha with the extra mileage in commercial and residential facilities.

For instance, the Kaloleni shopping mall will run from the Mianzini junction along the Moshi-Arusha road down to the Florida round-about area, a stretch of some 700 meters.

“So, far, tenants of residential houses which are to be demolished have started releasing those houses smoothly to pave the way for the project to start,” he stated.

AICC, whose flagship business is operating the country's largest conference complex in Arusha, is also the owner of about 655 residential housing units in the city.